-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- So , when can we expect our refund checks ?

Because two can play this game .

On the one side of the federal government shutdown are the people whose job it is to run that government : the Congress and the White House . Democrats , Republicans , conservatives , liberals -- no one forced any of them to take those jobs . They wanted them . Then ran for them . They got them .

On the other side -- at least in a rational world , which this is n't -- is us . The taxpayers .

Congress still gets paid -- it 's in the Constitution

We pay federal income tax with one solitary and bedrock expectation : We are handing our money over so that the federal government will run .

Some people may not like how the government operates ; some may not care for a particular president or a particular member of Congress or a particular government program .

We accept that , as we pay our taxes . We pay those taxes because we have to . We know that we do n't get to withhold those taxes just because we may dislike some of the people or programs the taxes are funding .

But when we are told that the government has been shut down -- that it has been closed for business -- that 's different .

We paid for that service . We had no choice .

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If we had paid for an airline ticket , and in the middle of our trip the airline informed us that one leg of our journey had been canceled , we would justifiably demand a refund .

If we ordered an annual subscription to 52 weeks of a magazine , and then , a few months into it , the magazine told us that its new policy was to publish only 26 issues a year , we would , with good reason , ask for half of our money back .

If we paid for a one-year membership in a health club , and the club announced that it would have to close for repairs for three months , we would expect a 25 % refund .

So ... exactly when can we expect to see our refund checks from the federal government ?

We have paid for it to operate .

And -- with the exception of what , for now , are being deemed certain essential functions -- it is not operating .

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The people we have paid to operate it can blame each other all they want for what has happened . They can point fingers and say that it 's all the other guys ' fault .

But whoever ultimately shoulders the blame , the fact is that the people who hired them -- the American taxpayers -- are not getting what they paid for .

So the refunds , for the portions of government operations that have been shuttered , are owed . Or at least they should be owed , in any other kind of sane business .

The longer the shutdown continues , the larger the refunds should logically become . As if logic has had anything to do with any of these developments .

Congress and the White House might hear this request and say : That 's preposterous . The government is hurting for funds -- it needs the money .

Well , many of the people who pay for the government to run are hurting for funds , too . They need the money , too .

The government , no matter what anyone thinks of its various policies , no matter where anyone positions himself or herself along the political and ideological continuum , is expected to do one thing :

Open its doors each morning .

When it does n't , the people who paid for it to do just that have a right to propose that they are owed -- for services not rendered -- their money back .

With interest .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene .

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It 's taxpayers who finance government operations , writes Bob Greene

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Now that much of government is shutdown , we deserve a refund , he says

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Consumers would demand refund from other providers who did n't provide services , he says

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Greene : Government is expected to open its doors ; if not , give us our taxes back